Page 33 of Sinner’s Game

“Weapons.”

I let my eyes run up and down, then side to side, exaggerating how much space those weapons take up. “Must be a lot of them.”

“Yes,” he says. “There are.”

Right. Tools of the trade, I guess.

I exhale, then walk past what looks like a workout area toward the glass behind his desk. “You sit with your back to the glass?”

“I do. But only up here.”

“What kind of a vigilante are you? For that matter, how can you stand to not look at the view all day?”

“I like knowing it’s there, and it’s a reward for my work. Plus, I had the original glass replaced with bulletproof glass. It’s tinted in a way that makes it almost impossible to see through from the outside. Even at night when we’re illuminated in here,” he adds, moving up behind me.

I’m standing looking out, and I can see his reflection as he approaches and puts his hands on my shoulders. It’s the two of us, so close I can feel his heat and smell the scent of his cologne.

“Hang on,” he says, then pulls his key fob out of his pants pocket. He clicks it, and the room goes dark, leaving nothing in front of us but the moonlit ocean and the sky.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” He speaks in a whisper, his breath tickling my ear.

I nod, mesmerized not only by the view, but by the way he feels against me, his hands firm on my shoulders as if I mean something to him. Something more than a friend.

I can see our reflections almost like a shadow on the outside world, and I meet his eyes in the glass, then draw a shaky breath. I don’t want to feel this way, as if the most natural thing to do would be to turn in his arms and kiss him. I tell myself I don’t want it, and even if I did, I know I can’t have it.

Isn’t that what he said as we looked out over the town? That he doesn’t do relationships?

Maybe that’s okay.

I shove the thought from my head, knowing perfectly well it’s only lust talking.

I can’t do that. I can’t trust knowing there’s no future. Not after everything I’ve been through.

We’re friends, though, and that’s good. That’s for the best. I know it. He knows it. But somehow, in this moment, that just makes me sad.

“Brandy? Did I lose you?”

I shake my head. “I was just thinking about this place,” I lie. “It must have cost a fortune to renovate.”

“More than the purchase price, yes. I think it was worth it.”

I turn back to him, surprised. “I didn’t realize independent security consultants made so much. Or is this from working with Saint’s Angels?”

“Pay for the SA is just a stipend. No one is in it for the money.”

I wait, but he doesn’t elaborate, and since it’s not really my business, I don’t press. Instead, when he turns the lights back on, I let him give me the tour, explaining the tech, showing how the property is secure. “We do a lot of SA work up here. Some projects we don’t even want to run through the foundation. Only a few on staff know about the vigilante work.”

“And it’s okay that you’re telling me all of this?”

“Of course.”

His words don’t really surprise me, but they still make me feel special.

“We’ll go up and see the light during the day. Trust me when I say it’s painfully bright in there right now. And we’ll take the stairs down to the beach in the morning, too. Because of the rock formations here, the beach is essentially private. You can’t just walk north from the main beach by the Arts District. Even Ellie and Devlin can’t walk here, and they’re only a stone’s throw away.”

“I know,” I admit. “I tried once when I was a kid. Bothered me then, but now I like the idea of privacy.”

“So do I,” he says, a small smile tugging at his mouth as he looks at me.